1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to item hanger arrangements and inventory management methods and systems. In particular, the present invention relates to an item hanger arrangement and system, and an indication and tracking system and method for controlling and managing the storage and use of items.
2. Description of Related Art
Presently, in the health care industry, complex and expensive equipment and systems are utilized in the diagnosis and care process. As the development of this equipment and associated systems continues, the necessity to monitor and track the usage is of the utmost importance. Certain drawbacks and deficiencies exist in the prior art, including, (1) theft of the equipment or its components; (2) inaccurate manual compliance and tracking methods; (3) ineffective and inefficient compliance monitoring and similar management; (4) inefficient equipment sharing and distribution; (5) high repair costs; (6) difficulty in tracking; (7) inaccurate identification and tracking methods; and (8) problems identifying specific items from a plurality of items, etc.
Many medical devices, such as endoscopes, are highly complex and expensive medical instruments to purchase, maintain and repair. Unfortunately, equipment theft does occur, with some hospitals reporting the loss of 5-7 endoscopes; which, as stated, are extremely expensive to replace. According to the prior art, and especially in those procedures involving the use of an endoscope or other expensive medical devices, compliance with hospital protocol is a manual process, i.e., using “pen and paper.” Such theft and compliance issues arise with a number of expensive medical devices and equipment.
Further, many medical devices are currently being stored in unlocked cabinets, which are often left open, and in some cases, positioned in the middle of a high-traffic hallway. This represents a contamination issue, a potential damage issue, a potential theft/loss issue, a tracking issue, and the like. According to the prior art, and with respect to endoscopes, these devices are routinely returned from procedure rooms if not used during the procedure, and simply re-hung in the cabinet. However, there exists no effective control in place to prevent “dirty” endoscopes from potentially cross-contaminating the entire cabinet.
In addition, compliance monitoring, decontamination (cleaning), and disinfection protocols are manual processes, and time-based measures of workforce efficiencies are virtually nonexistent. Many medical devices, even when not in use, may require regularly scheduled cleaning and/or disinfecting due to an accumulation of dust and other contaminates. Another issue arises when such devices are borrowed by other departments, and are subsequently lost or misplaced. Accordingly, the devices are not available when required by the appropriate personnel. In addition, the hospitals must then assign individuals to spend time locating these expensive instruments. Since the sign-out procedures are normally manual, users may forget to sign out the equipment according to the procedure.
The repair costs associated with an endoscope, among other medical devices, is very high, and on some occasions, individual endoscopes can be “lemons” and require additional repair (with the associated costs). Some doctors report damage often, which will trigger excessive repair costs. Presently, there is no effective way of determining if a specific individual is the common factor in multiple damaged endoscopes. Still further, there is no effective process to identify and track loaner scopes, and little data is available to the managers of any “Continuous Improvement” process, i.e., there is no way of knowing if an endoscope has been lost. Presently, recordkeeping directed to these endoscopes is manual and time-intensive.
Preventive maintenance of various medical devices is often ad-hoc at times, and existing systems are often not integrated into the process to manage and tune preventative maintenance cycles and activities. Additionally, while many devices do have individual and unique serial numbers, trying to locate this number amongst a tangled jumble of insertion tubes and umbilical cables is extremely difficult, and since endoscope pools are not load-rotated, the scopes in front get used more often, etc.
Accordingly, such prior art storage, tracking, and inventory management systems are ineffective and/or inefficient in monitoring, tracking and communicating information directed to specified equipment and devices, e.g., an endoscope or the like.